I love participating in readathons, but one of the most challenging aspects of it might be picking the right books for each prompt. With all the book titles running through my mind at all hours of the day, I sometimes struggle to find the perfect match.
Well, last week, the Hocus Pocus Readathon team announced all of the prompts and rules! We are so excited for this to be our 5th year hosting this readathon. We always have so much fun connecting with others who share a love of reading and Halloween!
This year, wanted to try and be as helpful as possible and provide some book recommendations for each prompt from each team. This post contains recommendations for Team Sanderson Sisters.
I have not read every single one of these books, but I am pretty confident that they fill each prompt. If they don’t end up being perfect, don’t worry! You can still get the points for your team.
If you are struggling with a specific prompt, click it down below and it’ll take you directly to the recommendations. Or you can scroll through and see all the fun spooky book recommendations!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I make a small commission through these links with no impact on your purchase. For more information, click here!
Team Sanderson Sisters
Prompt 1: Winifred wants to suck the life out of children to become immortal! Read a Halloween-themed middle-grade book.
For this prompt, and book geared towards middle-grade readers that has anything to do with Halloween would count. Whether it is set on Halloween or it’s about a Halloween character like witches or ghosts, it will still count!
Title: The Halloween Tree
Author: Ray Bradbury
Release Date: January 1, 1972
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Horror
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
This book is about a group of kids who are meeting their friend, Pipkin, to go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. However, once they get to their meeting spot, a creepy old haunted house, their friend is immediately swept away. This group of 8 friends work together to travel through space and time to find Pipkin.
Title: Bunnicula
Author: Deborah and James Howe
Release Date: March 1, 1979
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
What is more Halloween-themed than vampires? Nothing! I distinctly remember buying a copy of Bunnicula when I was in elementary school from the Scholastic book fair. No wonder I grew up to love the horror genre so much! This book is about a particularly spooky bunny with fangs and a taste for blood!
Also, cool discovery of the day, they made a Bunnicula graphic novel! Don’t forget, graphic novels count for this readathon!
Check out the graphic novel version of the book on Amazon here!
You can add this book to your Goodreads TBR here!
Title: City of Ghosts
Author: Victoria Schwab
Release Date: August 28, 2018
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
What is more Halloween than ghosts?! This book was actually the group book for last year’s round of the Hocus Pocus Readathon. But if you haven’t read it, it is about Cassidy, who can see ghosts. Her best friend is actually a ghost. So, when her parents take her to visit Scotland, she is surrounded by spirits and she learns how to help them pass the veil to the other side. However, not all ghosts are nice!
And for the people who did read City of Ghosts with us last year, lucky for you this book is a part of a series! You can read the second or third book in the series if you haven’t already!
Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Release Date: July 2, 2002
Genre: Middle Grade, Horror, Paranormal
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Although this book isn’t exclusively about Halloween, I do think the story of Coraline has become synonymous with Halloween. A Halloween movie marathon is simply not complete without Coraline! This movie is about a young girl who gets swept into an alternate reality that seems better than her own life. However, the longer she spends in this alternate place, the scarier things become.
Title: Ghost Squad
Author: Claribel A. Ortega
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror
Release Date: April 7, 2020
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Written by the amazing author of this year’s group book, Claribel A. Ortega also has a book called Ghost Squad, perfect for this prompt! This story is set soon after Halloween when Lucely and Syd accidentally do a spell that releases some angry spirits. Working with Syd’s witch grandmother, Babett, they rush to reverse the spell and save their town.
Prompt 2: We must find Book, he is missing! Read a book where the characters go on an adventure.
Adventure stories are everywhere! It is such a popular genre. However, for this prompt I am going to focus on adventure stories with spooky, mysterious, or fantastical themes, considering this is a Hocus Pocus-themed readathon!
Title: Sorrowland
Author: Rivers Solomon
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Adventure
Release Date: May 4, 2021
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
In this story, Vern, who is 7 months pregnant, escapes the highly religious compound to escape into the woods. Here she has a set of twins, and she is set on raising them away from the strict place she used to call home. However, she is not safe. Trying to stay alive in the woods when you are being chased by people who won’t let you go isn’t easy. And even more weird is the strange abilities she has developed since entering the woods.
Title: The Fifth Season
Author: N.K. Jemison
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian, Science Fiction
Release Date: August 4, 2015
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
I read this book a couple of years ago, so I don’t remember much about it. However, I know for sure that it is full of adventure. In this book, the main character, Essun, comes home to find that her husband has killed her son and kidnapped her daughter. Also, the entire civilization has collapsed. Essun sets out on a journey through a land without resources or safety to save her daughter.
This book is very highly regarded, If you love dystopian-style books, you will like this story! Personally, I think dystopian stories can be pretty creepy considering how close to our world they appear.
Title: Labyrinth Lost
Author: Zoraida Córdova
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Adventure, Paranormal, Young Adult
Release Date: September 6, 2016
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Alex is a bruja, but she hates magic. So, as soon as she could, she did a ceremony to get rid of her powers. However, something went wrong and her entire family vanished. She was left with Nova, a brujo she really didn’t trust. In order to get her family back, she sets off on a quest with Nova, where she encounters creatures and challenges.
Title: The Haunting of Tram Car 015
Author: P. Djèlí Clark
Genre: Short Fiction, Horror, Steampunk
Release Date: February 19, 2019
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
If you are looking for something shorter, this novella is perfect for this prompt! In this story, Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner the ways of their town, where magical creatures are running rampant. They are assigned to a case where a tram car has become possessed.
This short novella sounds so interesting and spooky, perfect for your October TBR!
Title: Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Author:
Genre: Fantasy, Mythology
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
In this story, there is a character named Tracker who is a hunter. He has set out on a quest to find a boy that has run away. However while on this journey he is being attacked by creatures that want to cause them harm.
Prompt 3: Mary only wants to impress her older sister by doing everything she asks! Read a book that features a sibling relationship in it.
As a sister myself, I love reading books about siblings. It is a dynamic nobody can understand unless they live it!
Title: The Immortalists
Author:
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Contemporary
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
This book was released a couple of years ago, and it blew up in popularity! It has been on my TBR ever since. This story is about a group of siblings who are enamored by a mystical woman who comes to New York City in 1969. This woman says she can tell them when they are going to die.
I’m not so sure I would want to know the day I would die. I wonder if it would change how I lived my life? Anyway, this book sounds incredible and strange.
Title: Little Fires Everywhere
Author: Celeste Ng
Genre: Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Release Date: September 12, 2017
Click here to check out this book on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Another popular book, Little Fires Everywhere was also adapted into a series on Hulu! This book is about Mia and her daughter Pearl, who have rented a home in a seemingly peaceful suburb. However, the four siblings who she rented from become too involved in her life and her mysterious past. The new residents to this neighborhood might shake things up for this idyllic town.
I have heard a lot of good things about this story! I also want to read it soon, so I can check out the Hulu series. Maybe I will add this to my TBR for October!
Title: Before the Every After
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Poetry
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
I have so many Jacqueline Woodson books on my TBR, and it isn’t only because we share a name! I have heard many positive things about this author, and I can’t wait to dive into their work. This story revolves entirely around family. It focuses on the father-son relationship between a pro football player and his son, ZJ. When ZJ’s father starts showing health issues caused by his career, the family dynamic in the house shifts. Along with the relationship between father and son is the relationship between ZJ and his sister, Amani.
Also, doesn’t this book cover just scream fall?!
Title: The Accident Season
Author: Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Genre: Young Adult, Magical Realism, Fantasy
Release Date: August 18, 2015
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
The Accident Season is about a family who, every October, is especially prone to accidents. This year, Cara, along with her step-sibling and friend, are in for a particularly difficult accident season, full of both physical and emotional scars.
This book has been on my TBR for so long! It sounds like the perfect autumn read. Despite the mixed reviews on Goodreads, I think this will be the perfect fit for prompt 3!
Title: Sisters of Shadow and Light
Author: Sara B. Larson
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Sisters of Shadow and Light is about, you guessed it… sisters! This story is set at an abandoned castle, where sisters Zuhra and Inara were trapped 15 years ago. Thinking they will never get out, they are shocked when everything changes after a random stranger passes by their castle.
This book sounds magical and full of deep sibling relationships!
Prompt 4: Since the witches have been dead for 300 years, they don’t know much about the modern world. Read a book set in the past/ a historical fiction.
This is a pretty easy prompt to fill! Any historical fiction will do! However, if I were planning on filling this prompt, I would be looking for some spooky historical fiction novels! Here are a couple options!
Title: Mexican Gothic
Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Genre: Gothic, Historical Fiction, Horror
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
If there is one book that has been on my priority TBR the longest, it is Mexican Gothic. Everyone tells me that I will love this book! This story follows Noemí, who is called to her newlywed cousin’s home. Here, she is faced with a creepy house, an overbearing patriarch, and her cousin’s menacing new husband. The longer she stays in this house, the harder she finds it to leave.
I love reading atmospheric and alluring books during the autumn season. That is exactly how this book is described, I know this will be the perfect book for anyone into horror and gothic stories.
Title: The Girl from Rawblood
Author: Catriona Ward
Genre: Historical Fiction, Horror, Gothic
Release Date: September 24, 2015
Click here to check out this book on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Set in 1910, The Girl from Rawblood follows Iris, a young girl hidden away in a mansion because her father tells her she is ill. However, one autumn day she learns the truth, she isn’t sick, her family is cursed and she must avoid falling in love and starting a family at all costs to stop the curse from continuing. This is much harder than it looks and when she fails, Iris can feel the consequences of her actions almost immediately.
Nothing says Halloween like curses and spooky mansions, am I right?
Title: The Near Witch
Author: V.E. Schwab
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Release Date: August 2, 2011
Click here to check out this book on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Schwab is one of the most popular authors for spooky reads. This story is set in the past, where Lexi lives in a village where strangers are rare. That is until a strange boy shows up at the exact same time children start disappearing from their beds. Lexi, along with the help of this strange boy, works to find these missing children, getting closer to the possibility of a witch that everyone thought was a legend.
Title: His Bloody Project
Author: Graeme Macrae Burnet
Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller, Crime
Release Date: November 5, 2015
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
If you are looking for something with a little more crime this October, check out this historical thriller set in Scotland in 1869. This story is about Roderick Macrae, who was arrested for triple homicide, and even wrote a manifest about it. Now, a team of lawyers and psychologists must work to try and explain why he did it.
This book seems to look at the idea of truth, and whether we can trust it as much as we do. I am not much of a crime reader, but if you are, this book is for you!
Title: The Winter People
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
I know, this doesn’t exactly look like an October book, with the word “winter” in the title. However, this mystery thriller sounds like an exciting and cozy story to add to your Hocus Pocus Readathon TBR! Plus, fall is the season before winter! Might as well be prepared!
This story spans two different time periods, 1908, when a mysterious murder occurred, and the present day, where Ruthie is looking for her lost sister when she finds diaries from the 1908 mystery. Although there is a lot of space between these two stories, their connection might mean the difference between life and death for Ruthie’s sister.
Prompt 5: This is stressful! I suggest we form a calming circle! Read a book that is less than 300 pages.
This is also a pretty easy readathon prompt to fill! However, if you are looking to try something new, or want some spooky and magical book recommendations under 300 pages, here are a few!
Title: Tender is the Flesh
Author: Agustina Bazterrica
Genre: Horror, Dystopia
Release Date: November 29, 2017
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Check out my review of this book here!
A quick warning, this book is very scary in a disgusting, stomach-churning way. I have read this novella, and it is incredible. However, please. be warned, and look up the trigger warnings, before diving into this book.
This story is set in a world where all animal meat has become infected. So, the government has decided that certain humans will be bred and raised to be eaten. Marcos is one of the people who work in this industry, however, when he is given a live specimen, his ability to ignore the ethics of the world begins to falter.
Like I said… weird and really scary!
Title: Her Body and Other Parties
Author: Carmen Maria Machado
Genre: Short Stories, Horror, Feminism
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Click here to check out this book on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Check out my review of the book here!
Another book I have read, Her Body and Other Parties is the perfect short fiction collection for the Halloween season. This book is full of a diverse selection of short horror fiction rooted in feminism.
I liked some of the stories and was bored of others. But overall, it was a great read for the fall season, and it was easy to pick up and put down in between other books! This is perfect when you’re participating in a readathon!
Title: Nothing But Blackened Teeth
Author: Cassandra Khaw
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
Release Date: October 19, 2021
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
This novella has been on my TBR since I talked about it 2 years ago when it was released. And it is mainly because of how spooky and creepy the book cover is! I will definitely be seeing that image in my head while I’m trying to fall asleep tonight.
This story is about a group of friends who decide that an abandoned mansion is the perfect place for a wedding. However, during the festivities, they become haunted by the ghost of a bride with a terrifying smile.
This sounds like the plot of a horror movie I would love,. Let’s hope the book lives up to that!
Title: Silver in the Wood
Author: Emily Tesh
Genre: Short fiction, Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: June 18, 2019
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
This incredibly short novella follows Tobias, who wants to live a quiet life in the woods. That is until Henry shows up, and Tobias is forced to face his past and the many secrets he has kept buried.
This story is less than 150 pages and sounds magical, cozy, and perfect for autumn!
Title: What Moves the Dead
Author: T. Kingfisher
Genre: Horror, Gothic, Fantasy
Release Date: July 12, 2022
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover, I’ll be honest. However, the plot also sounds perfect for some fall-time reading. This story is about Alex, a veteran who receives word that their childhood friend, Madeline, is dying. So, they travel back home, to the countryside of Ruravia. The scene they find when they arrive is absolutely horrifying.
Not only do I want to add this book to my collection based on the cover, but I also want to read more gothic horror! I can’t wait to dive into this story.
Prompt 6: I put a spell on you… and now you’re mine! Read a book with a romance in it!
There are so many fun fantasy and spooky romances, here are a couple that would fit this prompt perfectly!
Title: The Ex Hex
Author: Erin Sterling
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: September 28, 2021
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
What would any witch do after a broken heart but place a curse on their ex-boyfriend? However, years later Vivienne comes face to face with this ex, and she must now work with him to reverse the hex in order to save their town, all while ignoring the insane chemistry they still have.
This is basically a Halloween version of a Hallmark movie. Did you know they actually make fall Hallmark movies? Yes, they are as fantastic as they sound!
Title: Cemetery Boys
Author: Aiden Thomas
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
This was one of my favorite reads a couple of years ago. Both spooky and adorable, this romantasy is perfect for fall. In this story, When Yadriel wants to assert himself as a real brujo to his family, who is struggling to accept his gender, he decides to summon a ghost to help solve his cousin’s murder. However, the ghost he summons happens to be Julian, a school troublemaker who is determined to get some answers before he is set free.
With both paranormal mystery and romance, this is a great choice for this prompt!
Title: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Author: Sangu Mandanna
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: August 23, 2022
Click here to check out this book on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to our Goodreads TBR!
This book sounds absolutely charming! This story follows Mika, a witch in Britain who keeps her head down and follows the rules so no one finds out she has magic. Except for one thing, an online account where she posts videos of herself doing magic, thinking nobody will take it seriously. This grabs the attention of Nowhere House, where she is called to help three new witches learn to control their powers. Here she meets Jamie, a librarian who is wary of Mika until he spends a little time with her.
Title: The Dead Romantics
Author: Ashley Poston
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: June 28, 2022
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
The main character of this story, Florence, is a ghost-writer, but she can also see ghosts. So, you can imagine her surprise when she comes home for her father’s funeral to find her overbearing new editor there… as a ghost. And he has some unfinished business to attend to.
There are a couple of things I love, and spooky stories and books about books are at the top of that list. This book seems to have it all, I am not a huge romance reader, but I will definitely be checking this one out.
Title: My Roommate is a Vampire
Author: Jenna Levine
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: August 29, 2023
Click here to check this book out on Amazon!
Click here to add this book to your Goodreads TBR!
Vampire romances are so popular, and this one sounds like a lot of fun! In this story, Cassie is looking for a new apartment and finds one for really cheap… suspiciously cheap. So, when Cassie starts noticing strange things like her new roommate sleeping all day and the actual bags of blood in the fridge, she soon realizes why the rent was so cheap. Except, her new roommate cares about her art and asks how she is doing, so maybe it’s worth it.
There were so many more books that could have been on this list but I didn’t want the post to be 10 years long! The options are practically endless.
Click here to see the book recommendations for Team Trick-or-Treaters!
Click here to see the book recommendations for Team Undead!
Have fun. I like some of these recommendations, even thought I am not participating.